I had barely taken a few steps when my mind suddenly went blank. My body stopped listening to me. Looking toward my shoulder, I saw—

  A zombie?!

  Then, a voice echoed in my head—

  A raspy robot voice: "Mental-type Evolver."

  A sharp explosion seemed to go off in my brain, and my vision cleared. Looking at my shoulder again—it wasn't a zombie, it was Sophie.

  Realization dawned on me. I turned around, and there it was—the zombie with the glowing blue eyes, staring blankly in my direction. Without hesitation, I picked up my pace and ran.

  The zombie horde didn’t follow. I let out a huge sigh of relief and readjusted Sophie on my back, slowing down a bit.

  Sophie was although she was small, carrying her was still a challenge. As a woman, she still had some curves. The friction against my back was oddly pleasant, and for a brief moment, my mind wandered. But I quickly shook off those thoughts and focused on moving forward.

  After walking for a while, I spotted some dark shapes ahead of the road—they looked like several cars.

  Approaching cautiously, I found three crashed vehicles. Two were severely damaged, while the third—a convertible—was in slightly better shape. Bloodstains covered the driver's seat, but no one was inside.

  I reclined in the passenger seat and gently placed Sophie there. Scanning the area for danger, I then turned my attention to the wrecked cars, hoping to find supplies like food and water.

  I first approached a red Toyota Camry, which had crashed head-on with another vehicle. Through the shattered windshield, I could vaguely make out the deployed airbag on the driver's seat. I moved to the side window to get a better look inside, but the tinted film made visibility almost impossible—even in daylight, it would have been a struggle.

  I knocked on the glass. No response. Moving to the driver’s door, I yanked it open—

  Locked.

  Damn it. I had planned to pull the door open and jump back immediately, but the lock had ruined my plan.

  No problem. I climbed onto the hood and delivered a powerful punch to the windshield.

  BOOM!

  The glass shattered instantly.

  Peering inside, I first noticed that the passenger seat was empty. The driver, however, appeared dead—not zombified. There was also something in the back seat, but it was too dark to make out clearly.

  Frowning, I jumped down from the hood and smashed the driver's side window. Unlocking the door, I pulled it open—

  My pupils are constricted.

  The dead driver's limp hand was clutching… a gun!

  A sleek, black handgun gleamed in his lifeless grip. Carefully, I pried it from his fingers and placed it on the hood of the convertible.

  I didn't recognize the making of the convertible, but it was clearly a luxury car, painted a sleek silver-white.

  I glanced at Sophie, still lying in the seat. The moonlight illuminated her pale face, making her look even more ghostly.

  I stood in silence for a moment before walking over to the rear door of the red Camry and yanking it open, quickly jumping back just in case. Under the moonlight, I spotted what seemed to be a black luggage bag inside.

  I figured the bag must contain food or other supplies, so I reached in to grab it. However, when I tried to lift it, it barely moved.

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  So heavy! There's no way this bag contains just clothes and food!

  Summoning all my strength, I finally managed to haul the bag out. As I lifted it, I heard the faint clinking of metal inside. My curiosity grew—what exactly was packed inside this thing?

  Slowly, I unzipped the bag, revealing the end of a long gun barrel. My breath caught in my throat as I pulled the zipper all the way open. Sure enough, the bag was filled with firearms of various kinds! Who was the dead driver of this car? What had he been involved in?

  Silently, I placed the bag of weapons on the hood of the convertible. I didn't know much about firearms, but from the conversation between Sophie and Duke earlier, I was certain she did. She had to be some kind of assassin.

  Next, I approached the second car—a Lexus. I didn’t remember the exact model, but its windows were tinted so darkly that I couldn’t see inside at all. Sticking to my usual approach, I stood by the driver's door, gave it a sharp tug, and immediately jumped back.

  At that moment, something unexpected happened!

  Two streaks of lightning shot out from the driver's seat, aimed straight at my head! I had prepared myself for anything—a zombie lunging out, maybe a corpse falling—but this? Never in my wildest imagination had I expected lightning attacks!

  My pupils shrank, and I jerked my head sharply to the right, narrowly dodging the blasts. Just as I tried to peer inside the car, another two streaks of lightning came at me!

  I dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack. I wasn’t some kind of martial arts expert capable of flipping through the air—come on, I was just a guy who spent most of his time in front of a computer! So instead, I rolled along the ground a few times and then looked up toward the car.

  The inside was pitch black, except for a pair of faintly flickering, electric-blue eyes.

  I narrowed my eyes. Could this be another evolved zombie?

  I remained still, waiting for it to make the next move.

  The figure inside shifted and, to my astonishment, slowly stepped out of the car. Under the moonlight, I got a good look—it was a young man, maybe in his twenties. His skin was heavily wrinkled, a clear sign he was a zombie. But unlike the mindless ones I'd encountered before, his eyes held a trace of confusion.

  His mouth opened, and in a hoarse voice, he mumbled, “Marn… Marn…”

  He glanced down at me crouched on the ground, the confusion in his gaze deepening. Then, without attacking, he turned and began walking in the direction we had come from… toward the Cemetery!

  I remained still, watching him until his silhouette disappeared into the night. Only then did I cautiously stand and approach the car to search for it. But this time, the vehicle was truly empty—nothing of value inside. Disappointed, I moved to open the trunk.

  To my delight, I found it stocked with food and water!

  Not just that—there were also clothes and even some everyday essentials. I grabbed a clean towel, soaked it with water from a bottle, and gulped down the remaining half in one go. Then, taking another bottle, I walked back toward Sophie.

  Opening the car door, I adjusted the passenger seat and slowly propped her up. Twisting the cap off the water bottle, I placed the damp towel under her chin and carefully poured a little water into her mouth.

  "Cough! Cough! Cough!" Sophie suddenly choked and started coughing violently. It seemed I had poured the water too quickly. Her eyes snapped open, and she instinctively jerked to the side before finally focusing on me. Recognizing who I was, she exhaled and relaxed against the seat.

  Her reaction speed only solidified my suspicion—she was definitely a trained killer. It also confirmed that the mind-controlling zombie’s ability only worked within a certain range. Otherwise, she would still be under its influence.

  After another few coughs, she took the towel and water bottle from my hands, drinking deeply before wiping her face. I picked up the handgun from the hood of the car and handed it to her.

  “Take a look at this,” I said.

  Sophie took the gun, narrowed her eyes slightly, and said, “SIG P250. Annotation:SIG P250—（a compact semi-automatic pistol.) Where did you get this?”

  I chuckled—just as I thought, Sophie recognized these things! Feeling a little proud, I said, “I, the great survival expert, managed to find a watermelon! If I could get you a watermelon up in the mountains, of course, I could get you a gun in the middle of nowhere! Hahaha...”

  Seeing Sophie frown, I quickly added, “Uh, well, just come down and take a look for yourself. There's more.”

  After getting out of the car, Sophie examined the guns in the bag and calmly said, “Aside from this handgun, the rest have no bullets.”

  Damn it! I thought I had struck gold, but it turned out to be a disappointment... It felt like one of those moments when Ares suddenly tells me, “George, there's a big chest over there!” But when I excitedly rushed over, I realized it was just like finding a treasure chest full of gold—only to open it and find it’s all fake coins. Who could understand this frustration?

  I explained everything that had happened to Sophie. After listening, she nodded and said, “Got it. Our top priority is checking if this car can still run.”

  With that, Sophie used a towel to carefully wipe the driver’s seat of the convertible before sitting down. The car keys were still in the ignition. She tried starting it, and surprisingly, the engine roared to life!

  However, she quickly added, “The car is still drivable. It just rear-ended the one in front, but that wouldn't stop it from moving. The problem is, it's almost out of gas. You need to siphon fuel from the other two cars.”

  Wait, what? Me? How am I supposed to do that? Tear opens the gas tanks?!